Meteor showers · 2026
Leonids 2026: when and where to look
The best night for the Leonids in 2026 is Nov 17-18. At the peak, expect up to 9 meteors an hour from a dark place, and about 2 from a city or a bright suburb.
The Moon is 55% lit and sets around midnight, so the hours after it sets are the darkest.
The fastest meteors of the year, often leaving glowing trails. When their comet comes back, every 33 years, they can storm with thousands an hour. It is next back in 2031.
From your city
The best night and time, which way to look, and how many to expect where you are.
or pick a place:
The best time from these cities
| City | Best night | Best time | Radiant | Dark place | City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai, CN | Nov 17-18 | 4:55 AM GMT+8 | 70° southeast | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:55 AM GMT+8 · 70° southeast · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Beijing, CN | Nov 17-18 | 5:17 AM GMT+8 | 66° southeast | 8 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:17 AM GMT+8 · 66° southeast · 8 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Delhi, IN | Nov 17-18 | 5:16 AM GMT+5:30 | 70° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:16 AM GMT+5:30 · 70° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Istanbul, TR | Nov 17-18 | 6:13 AM GMT+3 | 66° southeast | 8 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 6:13 AM GMT+3 · 66° southeast · 8 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Lagos, NG | Nov 17-18 | 5:15 AM GMT+1 | 60° northeast | 8 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:15 AM GMT+1 · 60° northeast · 8 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Karachi, Sindh, PK | Nov 17-18 | 5:24 AM GMT+5 | 70° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:24 AM GMT+5 · 70° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Tokyo, JP | Nov 17-18 | 4:43 AM GMT+9 | 68° southeast | 8 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:43 AM GMT+9 · 68° southeast · 8 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Moscow, RU | Nov 17-18 | 5:49 AM GMT+3 | 55° southeast | 8 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:49 AM GMT+3 · 55° southeast · 8 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra, IN | Nov 17-18 | 5:19 AM GMT+5:30 | 67° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:19 AM GMT+5:30 · 67° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| São Paulo, BR | Nov 17-18 | 3:40 AM GMT-3 | 30° northeast | 4 | 1 | Nov 17-18 · 3:40 AM GMT-3 · 30° northeast · 4 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Jakarta, ID | Nov 17-18 | 4:09 AM GMT+7 | 49° northeast | 7 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:09 AM GMT+7 · 49° northeast · 7 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Cairo, EG | Nov 17-18 | 4:48 AM GMT+2 | 69° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:48 AM GMT+2 · 69° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Seoul, KR | Nov 17-18 | 5:40 AM GMT+9 | 68° southeast | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:40 AM GMT+9 · 68° southeast · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Lima, PE | Nov 17-18 | 4:13 AM GMT-5 | 43° northeast | 5 | 1 | Nov 17-18 · 4:13 AM GMT-5 · 43° northeast · 5 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Mexico City, CDMX, MX | Nov 17-18 | 5:27 AM CST | 70° east | 6 | 1 | Nov 17-18 · 5:27 AM CST · 70° east · 6 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, VN | Nov 17-18 | 4:26 AM GMT+7 | 63° northeast | 8 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:26 AM GMT+7 · 63° northeast · 8 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| London, England, GB | Nov 17-18 | 5:18 AM GMT | 58° southeast | 7 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:18 AM GMT · 58° southeast · 7 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Dhaka, BD | Nov 17-18 | 4:52 AM GMT+6 | 71° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:52 AM GMT+6 · 71° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Bengaluru, Karnataka, IN | Nov 17-18 | 4:59 AM GMT+5:30 | 65° northeast | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:59 AM GMT+5:30 · 65° northeast · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| New York | Nov 17-18 | 4:56 AM EST | 65° southeast | 6 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:56 AM EST · 65° southeast · 6 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Bangkok, TH | Nov 17-18 | 4:57 AM GMT+7 | 65° northeast | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:57 AM GMT+7 · 65° northeast · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Riyadh, SA | Nov 17-18 | 4:45 AM GMT+3 | 70° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:45 AM GMT+3 · 70° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Hong Kong, HK | Nov 17-18 | 5:09 AM GMT+8 | 69° east | 9 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 5:09 AM GMT+8 · 69° east · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Bogotá, CO | Nov 17-18 | 4:28 AM GMT-5 | 59° northeast | 6 | 2 | Nov 17-18 · 4:28 AM GMT-5 · 59° northeast · 6 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
Meteors an hour at the best time on the best night, for one person watching the whole sky. Times are local.
Where to look
The Leonids seem to fly out from Leo, which rises around midnight, but they can appear anywhere in the sky, and the ones away from that point have longer trails. Look about halfway up, toward the darkest part of your sky.
Give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust, put your phone away (its screen resets your night vision), and lie back so you can take in as much sky as you can. No telescope or binoculars: they show too little sky.
Open Look up on the Sky Globe While the shower is on, Look up marks where they come from.
What they are
- Comes from
- Comet Tempel-Tuttle
- Speed
- 71 km/s (about 159,000 mph)
- Peak rate, perfect sky
- 15 an hour (IMO)
- Active
- Nov 6 to Nov 30
Each meteor is a grain of dust, most smaller than a grain of sand, left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Earth runs into that dust on the same days every year, and the grains burn up about 100 km overhead.
Saw a fireball?
A meteor brighter than Venus is a fireball. Every shower makes a few. If you saw one, or something you can't place, tell us when and where and we'll check it against the shower, satellites, rockets and planes.
The next showers
How we work this out: the peak is when the Sun reaches the shower's place along its yearly path (the International Meteor Organization's way of timing it, with their numbers for the peak rate, the radiant and the speed). For each place we follow the night in 10-minute steps and scale the rate for how high the radiant is, twilight, the Moon and city lights. It's an estimate: clouds, haze and your eyes all change it.